Hello! How are you? Iām good. I should probably schedule a therapy appointment to talk through that bee debacle from yesterday. But other than that I managed to avoid any bee interactions on my run this morning!
I am ramping up for Christmas, but not in the usual ways. Even though I LOVE Christmas decorations and lights and music ā Iām not decorating my lil home. This is because:
a.) Iām lazy
b.) ā¦ uh, Iāll finish this later.
But I am getting in the holiday spirit by doing the following super festive things:
1. Painting my nails a super sparkly red. I love this color!
2. Gearing up for either being invited to a Christmas Party (fingers crossed) or running a Christmas race.
This year ProCompression made āUgly Sweaterā inspired socks.
3. Dressing up as Santa and her elfā¦
This is a double win because now heās mad at me. That sounds bad but is actually a good way to keep cat fur off my leggings. Boom.
4. Running.
This gets me in a happy spirit in general. Timing it up near the holidays is just a bonus.
Sidenote: I ran out of my full size sunblock this morning and grabbed this travel sized sunblock. Um, I never noticed before but I like the smell of this. Itās still sunblock, but a lot more pleasant than the last one I bought.
5. Christmas shopping!
I have a great idea for a group gift for my family. I want to tell you but I think my mom might check the blog when I donāt answer my phone to see if Iām alive and I donāt want to risk her finding out!! (I could just answer my phone, but I am not ready to commit to that.)
6. Thinking about baked goods.
Okay, I do this all the time but this is for gift purposes. Last year I made the Pioneer Womanās Cinnamon Rolls to give away. They were a huge hit! But I want to make something else this year. I want to have āmy thingā = a specific cookie, cake, bread that I make super well and everyone likes.
I was thinking about making brownies. I think theyāre universally liked, you can eat them any time (I kind of thought the cinnamon rolls were best in the morning but didnāt hand them out in the morning so not ideal), theyāre a little fancier than cookies (I think?)ā¦
My parentsā neighbor sends over brownies every year on Christmas morning and theyāre really good and we look forward to it! So, Iām kind of copying her / using that as inspiration. I wouldnāt think that my fam would get so excited about brownies, but theyāre so good and itās a special thing just this time of year.
I was thinking about doing a bundt cake but I kind of want it in individual servings to make it easier.
We made PW cinnamon rolls for our neighbors this year! Yummo! And the hubs always makes peppermint fudge š
Mini bundt cakes molds are great. Brownie batter can be used, too, so everyone gets crunchy/chewy edges and gooey middle like this recipe: https://smittenkitchen.com/2016/02/belgian-brownie-cakelets/
Or this recipe but use a holiday cookie cutter: https://smittenkitchen.com/2011/02/white-and-dark-hearted-brownies/
Can’t wait to see what you make. Cheers!
Thank you! I was thinking of a big bundt cake too!
I’m going to get in the Christmas spirit by getting a Shellac manicure (oxblood red), treating myself to a Christmas coffee, and buying myself a present- the holidays are always tough for me, and I recently got made reduntant which has made matters a little trickier! But a small gift for myself always helps me feel festive. Oh, and wrapping presents. I loooove wrapping presents.
That’s a good plan. The holidays can be rough and I feel like there’s so much pressure to be holly jolly. Hope it’s a good one for you. xoxox
Ooo for running gear that’s festive, have you checked out the sweater leggings at target? I just ran a santa race and wore them over my regular compression gear (it was super cold!!). They worked like a dream, and everyone wanted to know where to get their own.
For stuff to make to give away, you could try the chocolate pretzel things that are made with kisses and m&ms. Not super high tech, but you can pick your kiss flavors and m&m colors, and then you can eat the ones that get messed up – which in my opinion is the best part!
I make ”nutchos”….it’s the best thing on earth!! Peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, peanuts/nuts and crushed salty chips! Sooo delicious! It’s my secret recipe! shhh! š
Secret recipe! Now I’m extra curious!!
Its just a bag of each! But people often can’t pin point that it’s actually potato chips in them! Salty and savory….best of both worlds! š
You have to make my rum cake. It’s so good. Well it’s not mine. Just look up “golden rum cake” on Allrecipes dot com.
My grandma used to make it all the time and I took over. People beg me to make it. And it tastes so good for breakfast the next day.
Oooh! This reminds me one year I made a bundt cake with port – I got the recipe from a winery I visited. And I think I made it too strong because my family can drink and they even said it was strong!
I love the Christmas outfit with your cat so much. His expression is priceless.
Charmaine Ng
Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
Ha! He puts up with a lot š
I wish I had a need for sunblock today! Even though we need to rain in California, I’m definitely not used to running in it and not having the sunrise to light my morning run.
Diana
http://betterthanalive.com
Agree! The dark mornings make it so hard to get out and going.
Peanut butter balls! I have made them every year and have finally found an amazing recipe (Sally’s Baking Addiction Peanut Butter M&M Truffles, or something like that). People ask me for them, there that good.
Ooooh! I’m going to look this up.